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Some Categories Will Surprise In The Fourth Quarter

What categories will be surprise winners
during the holiday selling season?

Tim Coakley, Ingram Micro Consumer Electronics:

DJ and music manipulation products will
gain a large boost with the convergence of consumer
electronics and the music world. A person
doesn’t need a sound room or professional setup
to get professional results anymore. There are new
and exciting DJ products that work directly with
MP3 players, iPods or iPads through popular apps.
This will open up the DJ world to new enthusiasts
that aren’t necessarily professionals … yet.

Sixty-inch and above [flat] screen sizes are going
to be set at very affordable price points, which is
going to result in surprising growth in a previously
flat category.

Michael Flink, ADI Americas:

It is no surprise
that tablet PCs will be big this holiday season, but
the surprise will be just how high sales will go for
these products.

In home media, streaming devices will also be
popular, like Blu-ray players that offer Netflix, Apple
TVs and other similar products. Wireless audio and
video devices are gaining popularity across the custom-
installation market, and will grow rapidly during
the holiday season. Products like the Peerless HD
Flow and Proficient Zero offer whole-house solutions
without the need for any wiring.

Dennis Holzer, PowerHouse Alliance:

Sales
of premium brand television in sizes 60 inches and
larger will significantly exceed forecasts. We also
believe audio receivers and speakers will post significant
increases as attachment sales to video. And
they may not be surprises, but look for Blu-ray and
remote-control devices to also post significant increases.

Warren Chaiken, Almo:

This certainly doesn’t
come as a surprise, but expensive, high-performance
headphones and accessories for tablets will
be top sellers this season.

Bill Stewart, Petra Industries:

I don’t think
we will see anything that completely takes us off
guard. We know that these categories are our focus
for holiday sales: tablets and accessories; iPhone/
iPod/iPad; cellular accessories; headphones; TV
stands, mounts and cables; car remote starters;
GPS receivers; and photo/video computer peripherals.

Jerry Satoren, DSI Systems:

Again, I think super-
large-screen TV sales will surprise many as the
consumer value proposition gets extremely compelling.
I also like any home-networking solutions that
are affordable and simple to set up. Consumers’
desire to enjoy their content in any room at any time
is very high. To that end, there are many cool and
interesting products in this space. Smart retailers
that offer these turnkey and affordable solutions for
consumers to achieve this will be very pleasantly
surprised at how well they do.

Jeff Kussard, Capitol Sales:

Although 3D has
been relegated to feature status, advances such as
passive 3D will help buoy the technology. Among
the real winners this holiday season will no doubt be
imaging products, especially as we see an increase
in the upward migration of consumers from pointand-
shoot to d-SLR models. We expect mirror-less
offerings to have a particularly strong effect. In audio,
amplified soundbars will become the home theater
audio system of choice for an even larger segment
of consumers, while Airplay-enabled devices
will gain momentum at a variety of price points, offering
a viable alternative for consumers who until
now preferred stationary dock systems.

Fred Towns, New Age Electronics:

I think
what we will see are more bundled solutions across
the board, with computing and gaming being the
biggest sellers. People are evaluating the valued
package of goods vs. individual products, to get
more for their dollar.